Christine Carberry celebrates her graduation day, flanked by her grandparents, as a member of the class of 1982.

Christine Carberry ’82 used to wear steel-toed boots to
climb two-story fermenters at a biotech start-up in Boston. As the first woman
hired in their manufacturing department, Carberry drew from her undergraduate
education in Biochemistry at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) to engineer
a strain of E.coli, which generated the enzymes and antibodies that would later
be purified into pharmaceutical drugs. “That’s how I found myself at what became
one of the most successful biotech companies of all time … Biogen,” says
Carberry who kept on climbing – through a variety of technical operations,
strategic planning, research and development, program management, and the
establishment of the company’s first European manufacturing facility – until
she became the Vice President of Program and Alliance Management. And then, in
the spirit of continuing to create successful enterprises, Carberry stepped
down from Biogen to join EnVivo Pharmaceuticals in Watertown, MA last fall.
“After thirty years,” she laughs, “I’ve come back to a start-up.”

Having found her niche down a nontraditional path for a
biochemist, Carberry thrives on promoting education in the STEM fields and
bringing awareness about the variety of careers available to fledgling
scientists upon their graduation. During her tenure at Biogen, Carberry made
the time to further her education and obtained a Master’s of Science in
Innovation and Technology Management from Boston University, along with
certificates in Management and Biotechnology Strategy from Harvard University. And
she brings this well-rounded educational and professional experience to her
service as a mentor to UNH students and others, listening to their questions
and helping them navigate the many different journeys along which their degrees
can take them.

“Christine is always thinking about ways she can give back –
whether it is building corporate partnerships, guest lecturing, serving on the
COLSA Advisory Board, or mentoring students,” says Stephanie Gillen, Director
of Development for the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture (COLSA) at UNH,
who invited Carberry to join the Development Board that Dean Jon Wraith formed
last year. In addition to that service,
Carberry established the Christine St. Martin Carberry ’82 Endowed Fund for
Biological Sciences in 2005, which provides unrestricted, discretionary support
for the dean as well as scholarships for students in Biological Sciences.

Carberry’s devotion to her Alma Mater underscores this
Hampton native’s appreciation for the University. “I applied early decision to
UNH and didn’t seriously consider any other institutions. I wanted a science
career, and I knew that UNH was strong in science and agriculture,” says
Carberry. “And there was the affordability. I’m a person who has always wanted
to be financially independent and, with the help of my parents and working a
part-time job while attending school, I was able to do something that’s almost
unheard of now and graduate without any debt.”

Although Carberry looks back with
gratitude for her educational experience, the process wasn’t always a pleasure.
She recalls rising early in the morning to attend back-to-back classes in
organic and physical chemistry for hours at a time. “After a short break for
lunch, I’d be back in the lab, glancing out the window at those beautiful green
lawns with all the business majors out there playing Frisbee,” says Carberry.
“I had to ask myself why I was majoring in science. It’s a big commitment, and
that’s important to understand when you start.” It was all worth it in the end,
of course, and now Carberry champions the value of being able to apply the
scientific method to a variety of problems.

“Christine’s a wonderful example of how
alumni can give back in many different ways,” says Gillen. Alumni participation
has both a direct and indirect impact on students during their learning process
and, she says, it gives young people the opportunity to forge early relationships
with successful professionals in their prospective fields. For Carberry, and
other alumni like her, giving back is all about providing a leg up for students
in an unseen world of possibilities.